Ntombela warns in her inaugural State of the Province Address (SOPA) at the Vista Arena in Bloemfontein on Tuesday that the government will remove contractors from their government database, should they not complete work on schools despite receiving funds, thereby essentially blacklisting them. She further warned that in future they will not make use of these blacklisted companies for such projects again. Ntombela’s speech comes after tensions reached a breaking point between the main contractor and the sub-contractors who are working on building the sole school in the Caleb Motshabi informal settlement in Bloemfontein in 2018.

Ntombela said last year they anticipated the Thuto Ke Thebe Primary School to be completed by the end of May 2019, despite the contentious relationship between the contractors involved. Construction at the school came to a complete halt in 2018 due to a disagreement, with it being alleged that one of the sub-contractors was owed close to R3 million. Ntombela, in fact, named the school as one of the three schools in Bloemfontein and one of many others in the province that will be opened in June 2019 in her State of the Province Address on Tuesday, indicating that measures to quell the tension had worked. 

OFM News previously reported that 90% of the learners at this school will come from this poverty-stricken area, parts of which are commonly known as Dinaweng. Due to the absence of a school in the area, many learners are currently forced to go to schools in Loerier Park or Phase 2.

Ntombela announced the schools that will be opened in June this year will be in Vrede, Hoopstad, Botshabelo, Bothaville, Hertzogville and other towns in the Free State. She further mentioned that three schools will be opened in the City of Roses. She says on top of that a special school will also be opened in Trompsburg as well. She added that this is, however, not the end and that more schools will be built across the province to ensure that children no longer have to walk across dangerous roads to get to school, they will have one where they are.

OFM News/Sazly Hartzenberg and Olebogeng Motse